We bought this dresser for my daughter when she was a toddler (about 10 years ago) and it finally became to small to hold everything and since her desk was "little kid" size as well I took the dresser and turned it into a "big girl" (don't tell her I said that!) desk.


It turned out to be a lot easier than I expected, the hardest part was waiting for drying times. 
And since I used the hardware from the the dresser the only thing I had was the paint and polyacrylic.


She picked out the stencils and I used the paint we had leftover from painting her room:


I also gave her a chalkboard square (2 tablespoons unsanded grout and between 3/4 and a cup of any paint)


There are more progress pictures and information on my blog if anyone is interested.
http://yellowhouseon3rd.blogspot.com/2012/04/old-to-new-dresser-to-desk.html
Thanks for looking!

Since my husband is in the military we have moved away from many of your friends. One of my friends has been having a rough year and I wanted to be able to give her a hug. So I made her this and sent it out without telling her.



In addition to the rules/goals of the challenge I wanted to use more stash or personal items and do less shopping, so the blocks I used are actually mine from when I was a kid! The only things I ended up buying were the red paint and the glue. The short details: I spray painted all the blocks black, painted on the white and red details with acrylics, glued them around the frame, gave it a clear coat and inserted scrapbook paper into the frame (inserting the chocolates was the hardest, only because I wanted to eat them).



I made sure when I put it together that I did it right-side up so it could be used as either a small candy dish or as a picture frame.



My friend actually got it in the mail yesterday was was super surprised and happy! I love it when I can make someones day!

If anyone is interested in the how-tos of it I posted it in my blog: http://yellowhouseon3rd.blogspot.com/2012/02/random-acts-of-crafty-kindness.html

I took all those half used composition notebooks that the kids bring home from school at the end of the year and turned them into travel notebooks for our cross country trip.

For those of you that may not know what notebooks I'm talking about here's a before pic:


I kept two sets of covers and all the unused pages. And added to that some calender pages from last year and a ribbon. After spending lots of quality time with a hole punch, and a sore hand later, the final product:



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I bought a bunch of furry and fuzzy fabrics a few months ago and finally decided to make some stuffed monsters with it. Since I don't embroider well unless it's on a flat surface (and if I embroider before I sew it never ends up in the middle), all the monsters have only eyes. Some of the fabric was really slippery and hard to work with and when I sewed it I must not have given it a wide enough seem allowance, since they stretched apart in the middle. Some things to work on and figure out before I try again. The ones that did come out I love and since all of these have homes I'll have to make more just so that I can keep one!

The collection:


An attempt at a close up of the textures:


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I decided to try out a purchased pattern, rather then my usual hand drawn templates, and even though I picked an easy one, it was still confusing. I liked the already drawn pattern, one less thing for me to do, but I had to wonder about the order of some of the steps in the instructions and even the English ones seemed like they were written in another language.  I may not have ended up doing things the exact way the instructions called for, but my aprons still came out looking right. I just hope reading and following the instructions gets easier with pratice since I bought a few different ones. On to the picture, and for anyone that's interested it's a Macall's stitch and save pattern.



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Our last trip home, my husband's stepfather let our daughter and a cousin give him a makeover. It takes a real grandpa to let two little girls paint his nails and give him a facial. So, to comerate to occasion I made him a small scrap book of the pictures he let us take. I used simple unfussy pages since I think the pictures speak for themselves. Here are some of my favs and the cover, excuse the slight blurriness to some of them, my camera and I need to have a chat. 










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I need some new potholders, had tons of random scraps (since I hate throwing supplies away), and wanted to pratice my quilting skills before I tackled my quilts for kids quilt, so what did I do, I made random scrappy, quilted potholders. Since potholders require two layers of batting (been burned before by those with only one layer) I machine quilted each side and then sewed them right sides facing, turned right side out and top stiched. I neglected to take pictures of the backs, but here are a few shots of the fronts:

I borrowed the Craftster gospel, aka The Craftster Guide to Nifty, Thrifty, and Kitschy Crafts, from my library last week because I love to go idea shopping, even when I’m broke. And my daughter’s birthday is tomorrow and even thought she requested ear piercing for her present, I have to give her something. So, like magic there it was in the book, a book clutch purse. I had everything I needed already, making it within my price range, and what tween girl ever has enough purses (or Hananah Montana items)!

Now the pictures:






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Printed tee- shirts seem to cost way too much, $25 for a shirt!!! So, after reading many posts about freezer paper stenciling, I decided to try it myself. I made two shirts, for my husband, and I really only like one of them. I guess I can write the first one off as my starter work. I also found out with that one that the more detail the harder it was to get the freezer paper to stick to the shirt. That and my iron doesn’t like me! The second one was just like a shirt I found online for $24 plus shipping, I am proud to be a cheapskate, and did it myself!





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I have never knit anything before. The one time I tried the needles got all tangled up, I made a mess, got really frustrated and gave up. But I love the way knitted and crochet items look (nope can't do that either) and I really wanted to make something. People on the Post on everyboard craftalong were posting about the Knifty Knitter looms, so I went out a found one of those. I love how easy it was to do even for a beginner, and just maybe after a few more times of using it I will work up the curage to try the needles or hooks again. But on to the picture, for a basic beginning item I picked a scarf that is going to be given to  my sister.



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